Not part of the plan
by Snavej
Summary: Adrien had officially decided. It was time to get over his crush on Ladybug. With Plagg's help, Adrien came up with a course of action, but not everything went to plan...


Adrien had officially decided. It was time to get over his crush on Ladybug.

Of course, he'd never stop loving her, but he wanted it to be love between friends. He wanted to move on.

And thus, Adrien was lying on his bed in the middle of the night trying to think how best to stop fancying his Lady. Plagg had proven no help on the matter; the love of Plagg's life didn't need to love him back in order for him to obtain pleasure by eating it.

Yet Adrien could think of no way to stop loving Ladybug.

"If you find me some nice cheese, I will tell you the solution to your problem," Plagg piped up.

"You said you had no issues with your love life."

"Yeah, but this problem isn't dissimilar from other situations," Plagg replied evasively. Adrien sighed, sure this was a ploy for more cheese, but pulled a lump from the emergency stash under his bed.

"This better be good," he muttered.

Plagg ate the lump whole.

"Ah, that was good," the kwami moaned.

"Come on, spill," Adrien warned.

"Well, what do you do when your father disappoints you?"

"What's he got to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question."

"I play games or hang out with Nino," Adrien said, frowning at his friend.

"I'll ignore the fact that you failed to mention the sulking," Plagg drawled. Adrien scowled. "But there you go."

"Huh?"

"You distract and surround yourself with things you like," Plagg said. "It helps you get over the fact your father disappointed you. Ladybug doesn't love you back in the same way, it's a similar feeling of being unwanted right? So why won't the same tactic work?"

Adrien thought for a moment.

"I still have to see her though."

"You still have to see your father."

Adrien lay still and thought for a little longer.

"You know Plagg? For someone who knows nothing about feelings or whatever, you sure are helpful."

"I know," the kwami said smugly. "Now I'm going to sleep."

Adrien knew he too should sleep, but he couldn't. Not now he had a plan. Instead, he lay on his bed working on the details. He would concentrate on his friendships, with Nino and the others. If he could replace his father's lack of love with that of his friends, there was no reason he couldn't replace Ladybug's too.

What could possibly go wrong?sibly go wrong?

* * *

The following morning, Adrien entered his first class feeling optimistic. It was as if his brain had worked while he slept on improving the plan.

As the teacher set about taking the register, Adrien set about working out exactly what a young man who definitely did not fancy Ladybug would do in his current situation.

Well, he thought, as a young man who _did_ fancy Ladybug, I would never have thought at looking twice at another girl. Thus, his thoughts continued, I can feel no guilt in looking at other girls.

Adrien surreptitiously began glancing around at the girls he could see. To his right was Chloe and Sabrina. He frowned. Both girls were pretty - who in his class wasn't though? - but Sabrina was dedicated to Chloe and Chloe… Well Chloe wasn't very nice.

He turned the other way. He could just see Alya diagonally behind him, but she was definitely off limits. Nino fancied the socks off of Alya. Not that he'd admit it, but Adrien could recognise the signs all too well.

Without actually turning completely in his seat - which Adrien thought the teacher might just notice - he could not see any other girls. Fortunately, luck was on his side.

"... groups of four so you can discuss the projects," the teacher said as she walked up the aisle of the class and indicated the groups. Adrien felt Nino elbow him as they shuffled around in their seats.

Adrien turned and now had a view of the rest of the girls in the class. He could see Alix, Mylene, Juleka and Rose, but he could not possibly ignore Marinette. Primarily because she was right in front of him and her face resembled a tomato.

"Hi," he said with an easy smile.

Marinette made an odd squeaking noise which Adrien thought was a reply.

"Nino do you have your laptop?" Alya asked. "If they want a booklet, it really would be better if we word processed it."

"Yeah," Nino agreed as he pulled his laptop from his bag. "Now the front page will be the cover, so we just need seven pages worth of stuff. Any ideas Marinette? Adrien?"

Nino and Alya looked round at their two friends. Marinette squeaked again and Adrien chuckled.

"What is the topic? I wasn't really paying attention," Adrien said apologetically.

"Evolution," Alya said with a roll of her eyes. "So we should probably have a page on genes and-" She spared a glance at Marinette's scarlet face. "- reproduction."

"And one of those diagrams of how an animal has evolved!" Nino added enthusiastically. "Like that one of the horse."

"Yeah," Adrien agreed. "And something about Natural Selection, the giraffes thing."

"Huh?"

"You know, giraffes with longer necks could reach more fruit so they were more likely to live and thus breed and pass on the genes and stuff."

"Oh right," Nino muttered. He was typing down a list of the ideas. "Does that still happen? Like even to us humans?"

"Yeah," Adrien answered. "Humans have been getting taller and better looking for ages."

"Though some people argue that due the invention of modern medicine, some conditions that would have died out have been kept as we've saved people that natural selection would have let die," a small voice said. Then Adrien realised it had been Marinette. She'd never said so much in front of him before. Admittedly, it hadn't been the most coherent of sentences, but still.

"Ooh, we could add that in," Alya gushed. "Give the booklet an edgy feel to it."

"Great, I think we should go to the library," Nino said. "Miss! Miss, can we go to the library?"

"Yes, just be back before the end of the lesson," the teacher replied.

The four of them grabbed their stuff and Alya and Nino lead the way. Adrien smirked as he saw Nino lean towards Alya and mutter.

"You know, what Adrien said about humans getting better looking is true. The evidence is right beside me."

Adrien could practically hear Alya roll her eyes. He glanced around at Marinette, who looked equally amused. Yet as soon as Adrien made eye contact with Marinette, she blushed again and looked away. He frowned. Why would she do that?

Soon they found themselves sitting in the library and individually working on separate sections. Adrien was supposed to be doing the bit on genes and reproduction, but he was distracted. Distracted by the fact that Marinette blushed and looked away every time he looked at her. Not that he'd been testing it over the last ten minutes. He certainly wouldn't deliberately put Marinette off her work.

"Um, I'm… Just gonna… Get a book," Marinette stuttered. She practically fell out of her chair and stumbled away between the bookshelves.

"Is she okay?" Adrien asked, genuinely concerned. Alya rolled her eyes again.

"I'm sure she's fine," she muttered. "Why don't you go and check on her if you're so concerned."

Adrien squinted at Alya for a moment, trying to ascertain if she had an ulterior motive. Then he stood up and began to turn in the direction Marinette left in.

"You two better actually work while I'm gone," he muttered, mostly aimed at Nino, who threw his hands up in protest.

"I'm not the one going after a girl," Nino replied.

Adrien rolled his eyes and wandered off between the shelves. He found Marinette almost hyperventilating and clutching a book on fossils.

"Hey," he said quietly. "You okay?"

"Hi! Adrien!" she squeaked. "Yeah, I, uh… Found the book."

"That's great," Adrien said, running his hand through his hair. "Don't suppose there was anything on reproduction around here?"

He watched as Marinette's eyes went wide and her face flushed so brightly he was concerned whether there was any blood left anywhere else in her body.

She squeaked again and practically ran away.

"Really Adrien?" Plagg whispered. "Reproduction?"

Adrien facepalmed.

* * *

"You're such a dork," Nino said, laughing. "You, _you_ , asked Marinette, _Marinette_ , for a book on reproduction?" They were sat alone at lunch on a bench where Nino could just make out Alya and Marinette on the other side of the courtyard.

"Oh shut up," Adrien retorted, then grinned. "I heard what you said to Alya, that was so subtle."

"No idea what you're talking about," Nino replied nonchalantly.

"Sure you don't," Adrien muttered. "Look, why don't you just ask her out?"

"Ask who out?"

"Alya."

"Why would I do that?"

"Nino, seriously?"

Nino sighed and flopped onto the table.

"She doesn't even like me like that," he whined.

"How do you know? Did she tell you?" Adrien asked.

"Well no, but every time I speak she just looks at me with those eyes-"

"What else do humans look with?" Adrien heard Plagg whisper.

"- and she says something witty and intelligent and then I speak again and she just rolls her eyes…" he trailed off pathetically.

"But she hasn't actually said she doesn't like you?" Adrien prompted.

"No?"

"Then there is hope," Adrien said and grinned. Nino groaned dramatically and Adrien's 'let's get over Ladybug' orientated brain had an idea. "I could set you up with her!"

"Really?" Nino asked, half skeptic, half hopeful.

"Sure," Adrien said.

"Have you ever set anyone up before?" Nino asked. "No, scrap that, do you have any romantic experience at all? Apart from Chloe fawning over you? 'Cos that does not count."

"Uh, no," Adrien said, not put off by the thought. "I have a plan."

Nino did not look reassured.

* * *

"So what is your plan?" Plagg asked that day after school had ended.

"Well we need to find out about Alya right?" Adrien said. "So who's the best person to ask about Alya?" Plagg shrugged. "Marinette! Obviously!"

Plagg fell over laughing.

"You want to ask Marinette, the girl who quite literally cannot talk to you, for help?"

Adrien looked momentarily stumped.

"She can't talk to Adrien, but she can speak to Chat!" he said triumphantly.

"Really? You're going to abuse your power like that?"

"I am helping a friend!" Adrien protested.

"You know, I think I prefered it when you were love sick over Ladybug," Plagg muttered.

"Oh shut up," Adrien rolled his eyes. "Transform me."

Plagg groaned and complied.

Twenty minutes later and Chat Noir was lounging on the roof of the best bakery in the whole of Paris. He was waiting for Marinette to appear in her room. He'd seen her enter the bakery when he'd arrived, which presumably meant she was talking to her parents or something.

Eventually Marinette came in and flopped on her bed. Chat grinned and knocked on the roof hatch. He saw Marinette sit bolt upright in fear before relaxing when she spotted him. He watched her sigh dramatically and let him in.

"What do you want Chat?" she asked as she flopped back onto her bed.

"Guidance from my one and only Princess of course," he replied smoothly.

Marinette laughed into her pillow before sitting up and turning to face Chat, who had curled up at the end of her bed.

"Guidance on what?"

"Love."

Marinette laughed even harder.

"Really? You came to me for help on love? Who are you trying to woo this time?"

Chat hastened to correct her train of thought.

"Oh no, not me! It's for a fr- someone I met on patrol earlier," he said.

"Huh?"

"Well, I was patrolling as I do, and came upon an unfortunate young man who was puzzling over how best to help his best friend," Chat improvised wildly before realising how brilliant this thought could be, so he went on. "His best friend is pining over some girl who I believe you know."

"Who?"

"I believe the young maiden's name is Alya."

Marinette's exasperated expression suddenly changed to great interest.

"Who? Who fancies Alya?"

"Can you promise to keep it a secret?" Chat said in mock concern.

"Promise," Marinette said seriously.

"Nino."

"Nino?"

"Nino."

"Oh my!" Marinette jumped up from her bed. "Nino fancies Alya! But how can I help with this? You want me to probe Alya's mind. Find out if she likes Nino back?"

"Well yes," Chat said. "And to work with Nino's best buddy to get them together."

"Well only if Alya wants too."

"Well of course," Chat said with a grin. "So you'll do it?"

"Work with Nino's best friend to get him and Alya together?" Marinette summarised. "But Nino's best friend is Adrien!" She gasped and covered her face with her hands.

"You know him?" Chat said in an attempt of an offhand voice.

"Do I know him?" Marinette repeated and Chat recognised the colour her face went. It was the same colour that it went whenever she spoke to him as Adrien. He frowned at her.

"Princess, I didn't realise we were doing tomato impersonations."

"Oh shut up Chat!" Marinette clutched at her cheeks.

"Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Tomato impersonations." Chat wriggled closer, peering at Marinette with interest.

"I do not look like a tomato!" she protested. Chat raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not," Chat muttered. "Will you help Adrien then? I mean if he didn't succeed he might be sad and then he might get caught by an akuma and I really don't think you want that, do you?"

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm doing this for Alya," she insisted suddenly. "Not because I want to talk to Adrien."

"I wouldn't assume anything less of you, Princess."

"Well, good," Marinette said and nodded. "Is that all?"

"Bored of me already?" Chat clutched at his chest and faked a heart attack. "I'm wounded."

Marinette rolled her eyes and looked down at the heap on the floor that was Chat.

"Well you still have another eight lives, right?"

"You're assuming I haven't already lost some," Chat teased.

"If you lose one every time someone tells you that you're boring then I'm surprised you aren't dead already," Marinette tossed back at him.

"Me-ouch!" Chat clutched at his heart again. "My Princess really is on the warpath today, huh!"

"I vow to slay anyone that tells me I look like a tomato," Marinette said with a laugh. She held up an imaginary sword in a dramatic pose and Chat laughed with her. Then he jumped up through the opening to the rooftop and turned to call back down to Marinette.

"I'll be sure to mention your slaying tendencies to Adrien," he teased. "I wouldn't want him to be unprepared." And with that, he raced off across the rooftops. He knew Marinette was yelling after him, but he didn't really mind. He knew she didn't really hate him.

* * *

"Hey, Marinette?" Adrien called next morning at break. "Could I have a quick word?"

"Uh, sure!" Marinette squeaked back. Adrien saw Alya give Marinette a little push to get her moving.

"So Chat said he talked to you?" Adrien prompted. So far Marinette had yet to do her tomato impersonation.

"Yeah, he did," she replied as she stared at his feet and twiddled her fingers together.

"So have you got any ideas?"

"I'm not sure," she mumbled. "I need to speak to Alya a bit and then maybe if we did some things all together as a group that would make it less awkward for them and then we just give them reasons to be alone or something…"

"Sounds like an idea," Adrien said, slightly put off by the fact that Marinette still wasn't really looking at him. So he decided to go out on a limb. "Chat kept going on about you slaying tomatoes, what was that about?"

Marinette looked up and he could see the scowl forming in her face before she made eye contact. As she did this, the scowl seemed to fade away and was entirely replaced by the tomato impersonation.

"I don't look like a tomato!" It was evident she had tried to say this with some emphasis, but instead it came out low and rather pathetic.

"Your face is kind of flushed," Adrien said with concern though he was starting to have ideas regarding the cause of her colouring. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she puffed. "I need to go and find Chat."

"Why?" Adrien asked, genuinely frowning.

"Well he has a maximum of seven lives now and I know how to rid him of those."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm trying to do him a favour and he kept teasing me about my face and now he's told you and…" She flailed and gave up.

"But you have a nice face," Adrien said quickly, worried he'd actually upset Marinette. "Well I better catch up with Nino, but if you have any ideas let me know okay?"

"Uh," Marinette said in shock. "Okay."

As Adrien wandered away, still worrying he'd taking his teasing as Chat too far, he overheard Alya badgering Marinette.

"He said I had a nice face," he heard Marinette gush.

"Glad he's finally noticed," he heard Alya said with a laugh and then they were out of earshot.

* * *

It wasn't until a few akuma attacks later that Marinette finally had the courage to speak to Adrien of her own accord. He had not pushed the matter, but merely sent her encouraging smiles and refrained from mentioning anything to do with tomatoes while in her presence.

"Um, Adrien?"

He turned in his seat at the end of the last lesson of the day to see Marinette staring defiantly at him.

"Yeah?"

"Could I talk to you for a moment?" she continued.

"Sure," he replied with an easy smile. He was about to ask Nino to wait for him outside or something, but Alya had already dragged him away. "So you've had an idea?"

"Well kind of," Marinette said. She'd obviously had her fill of his face, because she was staring at the desk. "I've talked with Alya a bit and I don't think she's entirely repulsed by Nino nor is she entirely put off by the idea of having a boyfriend."

"Not entirely repulsed?"

"Well you hardly want me to just start with 'By the way Nino fancies you, I think you should go jump him' can I?" Marinette retorted. Then her hands flew to her mouth. "Sorry!" she squeaked.

Adrien laughed softly. Marinette was kind of adorable.

"Well that might be a little bit forward," he agreed. "So what is your 'kind of' idea?"

"I can convince Alya to come, if you can convince Nino," Marinette gabbled. "But that shouldn't be hard if he does like her as much as Chat implied. Then if it all goes wrong then we can play it off as all just going as friends, but if it goes well then it could be construed as a date."

"Hang on, what exactly is it you want to do?" Adrien seemed to have missed something somewhere.

Marinette squeaked something he couldn't make out.

"Sorry what?"

Marinette gulped before speaking again.

"Double date," she whispered, then hurried on. "But we just say it's just hanging out or something, but then we engineer it so that they happen to end up together or something."

Adrien thought for a moment, it seemed like a reasonably sensible idea. If everything went wrong, it would stop the after effects from being too awkward.

"Well Marinette, anyone else would think that you're just after a date with me," he teased. He realised after the words had escaped his mouth that that had been something like what Chat would have said to Marinette in this situation. Fortunately Marinette was too busy with her tomato impersonation to notice his sudden thoughtfulness.

"I wouldn't d- d- do that! I w- wa- want to help Alya!" she stuttered.

"I'm sorry Marinette," Adrien said quickly. "I was just teasing. It sounds like a great idea." He smiled reassuringly at her – which, he noticed, did nothing to stop the tomato impersonation.

She mumbled something he didn't catch.

"Did you have something in mind?" he asked gently.

"Well maybe we could get a meal together and then see a film or something," Marinette practically whispered. "Either you go for something like a Rom-Com that'll be cute and funny and stuff, or see a horror film in the hope that either Nino or Alya gets scared and required comforting by the other."

"Wow, you really have thought this out!" Adrien said. "Sounds great. Look, I should probably get back to Nino and stuff, but I'll check the cinema listings and stuff and message you about it?"

"Okay," Marinette replied. She attempted to smile at him and was kind of successful. Adrien left the classroom, not looking back to spare Marinette the embarrassment of turning red again.

He found Nino at the school entrance and dragged him into the car waiting for Adrien.

"Dude, what did she say? Did she ask you out?"

"What? No! Well, kind of, but no!"

"Kind of?" Nino repeated.

"Look, she's my right hand for getting you and Alya together. She knows Alya the best!"

"You're a genius."

"So we're going to go on a sort of double date type thing," Adrien said. "But we're going to play it off as going as friends, then if it all goes tits up, then it'll be less awkward after."

"Double date? What? Me and Alya and you and Marinette?"

"Yeah, well, Marinette and I are just going to provide opportunities for you and Alya to be alone together so she can realise just how much she likes you." Adrien thought for a moment. "Well, Marinette said that Alya wasn't entirely opposed to the idea of you or a boyfriend, so I think that means you have a chance."

"Yeah," Nino mumbled.

* * *

Chat couldn't help himself. He wanted to tease Marinette just a little for her proposed double date idea. So he found himself on top of her room and trying to open her loft hatch from the outside.

Marinette opened it herself about ten minutes after he'd arrived with an exasperated look on her face.

"Why are you here Chat? Have you come to laugh at me again?"

"Laugh at you Princess? Why would I laugh at you?"

Marinette only glared at him.

"Princess I was only here to congratulate you on asking Adrien on a date!"

"So you are here to make fun of me! And it's not a date for me! It's to help Alya and Nino as you-" She poked Chat in the chest. "-asked me too!" Chat caught her hand and held it to his chest.

He was at least a head taller than she was and as he gazed down into her blue eyes, her expression softened.

"I did," he murmured. "Thank you for that. You're so kind to everyone, Marinette."

"I won't be to you if you keep teasing me."

"Why do you do your tomato impression, Princess?" Chat asked seriously. "You only do it if I mention Adrien."

Marinette's face obliged once again.

"Because he's nice," she whispered bashfully. "And he was home schooled for a long time so he's just a bit awkward around people and after you'd teased me he just said that my face was nice and he's trying to help Nino and…"

"You fancy him," Chat concluded as the realisation hit him. Slightly shocked, he released Marinette's hand.

"Isn't that obvious?" Marinette flopped onto her bed dramatically. "And I can't even talk to him. Alya says it's because I have low self confidence."

Chat frowned and climbed onto the end of her bed.

"Why do you have low self confidence?" he asked, realising only as he said it what a dumb question it was, so he went on to try and cover his mistake. "You're really nice to everyone Marinette, you stand up for what is right and, well, Adrien is right. You do have a nice face."

"I think 'nice' is the only word people can use to describe me," she moaned and sat up to face Chat. "Chloe is beautiful, Alya is smart and witty and every other girl I know is amazing and all I am is just nice…"

Chat was alarmed to see tears in her eyes.

"You forgot to mention how creative you are," he said quietly. "I could hand you a load of scraps of material and you would hand me back a masterpiece."

Tears began to run down Marinette's face.

"But that's just a silly hobby, it's not like I can do it as a job…"

"Why not?" Chat asked her seriously. "You won that competition a while back, didn't you?"

"That wasn't anything important though."

"It was judged by Gabriel Agreste, he's not an easy man to please." Chat refrained from adding 'believe me, I know'.

"Hang on," Marinette said, wiping away her tears. "How do you know about that?" She frowned at him and Chat's eyes widened in alarm.

"Ask me so questions and I'll tell you no lies," he said quickly. "Secret identity and all." Marinette squinted her eyes as if trying to suss him out. Chat threw his hands up in the air like a criminal caught by the police. "All right, all right, you got me. I am Gabriel Agreste."

Marinette stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"You're so silly kitty." She batted him on the arm and Chat smiled, glad she was laughing again.

"Marinette," Chat began once the laughter had died down and she took notice of him using her real name. "You can't spend your life comparing yourself to someone else. Sure, Chloe may be considered beautiful by some, but not everyone likes blondes. Alya may be smart, but that doesn't mean you won't know things she doesn't. Someone will love you for exactly who you are, regardless of every other person on earth."

Marinette smiled weakly at Chat, before half jumping on him and drawing him into a hug.

"I still hate you for teasing me and all," she whispered. "But you're a good friend Chat. Thank you."

* * *

As Adrien flopped down onto his bed that night, he realised he'd been too narrow minded in thinking that he would only help Nino with his situation. Marinette also needed help. Not that she'd admit it or ask for it, but Adrien could see several little things he could do that would help her out immensely with her self confidence.

It was only as Adrien fell asleep, that he realised he hadn't thought about Ladybug since the last akuma attack.

* * *

"Nathalie!" Adrien called as he gobbled down his breakfast.

"Yes?"  
"I need to talk to my father, it will take a maximum of two minutes."

"Adrien, I'm sure you understand your father is a very busy man-"

"It's about the business," Adrien cut across the woman with a tone of finality in his voice.

"I'll see what I can do," she replied and walked out of the room.

Adrien did not get his phone call to his father until that evening.

"Adrien you have two minutes exactly," Gabriel said from the speaker.

"I want to suggest a summer internship program for current high school students," he said quickly. He'd rehearsed this speech all day. "We could get a number of potential future designers to come and work for us for a few weeks. They get to find out what the job is really like, we as a company can then call first dibs on anyone with real talent. You can put them under one of the current designers and they can use that spare office."

"You think I can spare one of my designers to oversee some amateurs?"

"You can give the task to whoever has underperformed this season, you might as well give them something useful to do," Adrien answered immediately, having expected this question and knowing exactly what to say to please his father.

"And I presume you'd want to have these interns paid?"

"It wouldn't have to be a lot," he reasoned.

There was a pause while Gabriel seemed to consider what Adrien had said.

"I'll think about it," he said finally. There was another small pause. "It's good that you're starting to think with the family business in mind." And he hung up.

Adrien retreated to his room.

"Well?" Plagg asked.

"He's thinking about it," Adrien said. "I think that's a good sign. He didn't say it was a stupid idea."

"And of course, if it works out, you'll get to spend those few weeks with Marinette."

"Huh?"

"Well you're doing this for her, right?" Plagg said with a roll of his eyes. "You'll be dragged around for modelling and stuff. And it was all your idea, so your father is going to depend on you for its success."

"I guess so, yeah," Adrien said.

"Now weren't you supposed to be picking a film for this double date thing?"

"Oh yeah!" Adrien grinned and turned his computer on. "What do you think Plagg? Horror or Rom-Com?"

"I have had to put up with enough love sick whining for a lifetime, I vote horror."

Adrien scowled at his little friend before checking the listings.

* * *

On Friday morning, Adrien woke to an email from his face which read: **Son, I presume you had someone in mind when you made your suggestion regarding the Internship programme. Please pass on the enclosed PDF with application details. Yours, Gabriel Agreste.**

Well it wasn't exactly affection, but Adrien appreciated the time his father had taken to send him the email.

Adrien printed the PDF and smiled. His father's efficiency at getting things sorted was to be admired. He planned to give the sheet to Marinette that very morning, so she would have plenty of time to submit her application.

He had his opportunity after the first lesson of the morning, they had a short break between lessons and as Alya had gone to the loo, Marinette was alone. Adrien pulled out the piece of paper and turned in his seat.

"Here," he said with a smile. "Thought you might be interested in this."

Marinette took the piece of paper and read it. Adrien watched as her eyes scanned the page and her cheeks tinged pink.

"Chat put you up to this, didn't he?" she whispered so that Nino wouldn't hear. Adrien looked startled.

"What makes you say that?"

"This programme did not exist a week ago," she insisted. "I look for these kinds of things all the time. I would know if something like this existed. Chat asked you to do this, didn't he?"

It was only as she finished speaking that Adrien realised it was the most coherent thing she had ever said to him as Adrien.

"Yeah, he mentioned you'd appreciate something like this," Adrien lied quickly. "I suggested it to my Father and he thought it was a good idea. You should definitely go for it."

"Thanks," Marinette said quietly. She smiled at him and managed to hold his gaze for almost two seconds before the tomato impersonation took over her face.

* * *

That evening Adrien's limousine pulled up outside a new Italian restaurant that Nathalie had booked for him. He'd asked her for a nice restaurant that wasn't too pricey. He'd planned all along on paying for everyone, but he didn't want his friends to feel too awkward.

Nathalie seemingly had completely ignored everything he had said.

The restaurant was so expensive that they did not have prices on the menus and they were the only patrons not complying with the apparent dress code. Adrien took a deep breath and took it in his stride. Alya seemed to stand a little taller as they were led to their table. Nino actually took his headphones off. And predictably, Marinette impersonated a tomato. She remained like that even once they'd sat down.

"I didn't realise Nathalie was doing to pick somewhere like this," Adrien apologised at once. "Pick what you want, I've got the bill."

"Dude, next time I'll make the reservation," Nino muttered back. "Marinette, breathe!"

"I am," she whispered.

"What do you all want?" Adrien asked, trying to ease them into the situation.

They all began reading their menus.

"Dude, it's in Italian."

"Formaggio is cheese right?" Alya said from behind her menu. "I've seen that on pizza."

Adrien groaned and glanced down the list in front of him, he could speak enough Italian to order having been to several restaurants in Milan.

"How about I'll just order for us all?" he offered. "Let me surprise you," he added when he spotted a certain item on the menu. He grinned up at his friends, who did not suspect a thing.

"As long as we get garlic bread," Nino said.

"Sure," Alya agreed. Adrien looked to Marinette, who nodded.

Adrien waved for the waiter and ordered. Only then did someone notice his grin.

"What did you do?" Marinette mouthed at him while Alya and Nino were looking the other way. Adrien just winked back and Marinette spluttered. Nino and Alya looked around in alarm.

"You alright?"

"Yeah," Marinette squeaked.

Fortunately, the garlic bread arrived at that moment, which distracted everyone from what had just taken place.

"Man this is good," Nino moaned. "So when does the film start?"

"8:30," Adrien replied. "I booked that so there is no chance Nathalie has tried to rent the entire cinema."

"Dude, that would have been awesome," Nino gushed.

"Yeah," Alya agreed. "No annoying twelve year olds trying to be cool when in reality all they are doing is being loud and annoying."

"I was never like that," Nino insisted. Alya scoffed.

An argument was avoided by the arrival of the food. Two large plates of spaghetti and meatballs were set between the two pairs. Nino looked around at Adrien and grinned at the apparent genius of this plan. Alya sighed and predictably, Marinette turned into a tomato.

* * *

Adrien had no sooner flopped onto his bed than he wanted to get up again. After the initial awkwardness of the dinner, it had settled into a lot of fun. The horror film they had chosen to see was riddled with tense moments and points that had them all jumping out of their seats. Adrien had noticed that Nino seemed to be holding onto Alya from fright than the other way around, but she hadn't seemed to mind too much. Meanwhile, he and Marinette had been pointing out flaws and trying to guess what was going to happen next. Adrien could not fail to notice how good Marinette was at this. She seemed a lot more relaxed around him in the darkness of the cinema, which he thought was probably due to the fact that even if she had been doing the tomato impersonation, no one would be able to see.

And now he wanted to transform and go and see Marinette to get the full lowdown on how it went with Alya. He fully understood that girls talked about these things so even in the half an hour since they'd last seen each other, Marinette would now have a full analysis done on the evening.

Plagg rolled his eyes as Adrien requested the transform, but he complied anyway and within minutes Chat was practically flying over Paris on his way to Marinette's balcony.

When he arrived, Chat peered down through the window to her bedroom to see Marinette dancing around her bedroom in her pyjamas. She spotted him and he expected her to frown, but instead, she waved him in with a grin on her face.

"You look happy Princess," he prompted.

"I have had the best evening ever," she gushed. She twirled around again and giggled. "I actually managed to talk to Adrien. We had an actual conversation."

"I thought the point was to get Alya and Nino together?"

"Oh that's going to happen," she said confidently. "That'll just take a little time, I think."

"Really?"

"Yeah, as long as Nino doesn't do anything stupid," Marinette went on. "Then it'll all work out. Alya does like him, and not just for his decent camera equipment. Though I imagine he'll end up helping her film stuff for the Ladyblog. Hmm, maybe I should suggest that to him…"

She paused as if to think for a moment, then giggled and began her twirling dancing again. Chat smiled at her behaviour, wanting both to join in in her happiness and to not ruin the beautiful sight of her smile.

"And it's all thanks to you!" Marinette said suddenly. She stopped dancing and turned to stare at Chat, who stood like a deer in the headlights. "If you hadn't chosen to help Adrien… Thank you Chat!" And just like that, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

Chat took an entire second to respond, but slowly, he returned the embrace.

"You're a good person, Chat," Marinette whispered.

He was stunned, utterly unsure of how to respond. His witty comments and ridiculous puns had escaped beyond his grasp and thus he was reducing to a mumbling mess.

"I… Um… Thanks."

"You asked him to ask his father about the summer internship thing too, didn't you?" With her arms still wrapped around his torso, Marinette stared up into Chat's eyes. "I know you did." He nodded mutely. "Thank you," she said again and gave him a little squeeze. "You know, with all the things you come out with, I'd have expected you to be a lot more comfortable with female contact," she teased.

"Cats are solitary creatures," Chat replied. "We don't often get affection."

He looked down to see Marinette smiling sadly at him. He turned his head away, trying to ignore the odd sensation in his stomach

"Do you want a cookie?" she asked suddenly. "A batch was slightly burnt and thus unfit for sale, but they're fine really."

"Uh, sure," he mumbled.

So five minutes later they were sat on Marinette's bed, eating slightly burnt cookies.

"I want to do something for you," Marinette said suddenly. "As a thank you for you helping me and my friends."

"Why? You don't have to!" Chat replied quickly through a mouthful of cookie.

"I want to though," Marinette insisted. "You've done so much, especially for Alya and Nino!"

Chat smiled, then a thought hit him and he laughed. Marinette looked at him inquisitively and he expounded upon his thoughts.

"Maybe I should ask to be best man at their wedding," he said with a snigger.

"Alya would actually love that," she giggled. "Especially if you asked Ladybug to come too." She looked particularly amused but this idea. "Though it wouldn't really be fair on Adrien."

Chat did not reply, but smirked to himself as he pictured the scene.

"Is there really nothing I could do for you?" Marinette asked.

For a moment, Chat's mind flew to Ladybug. He could ask for Marinette's help on that, right?

But…

He didn't want to.

Ladybug didn't love him like that. And he was starting to come to terms with that. The rejection still hurt, but she was still his friend. And that was okay.

"Can I keep coming round like this? So I can hear what happens with Alya and Nino and stuff?"

Marinette looked a little surprised at this, but smiled.

"Of course you can," she said.

* * *

Chat did not get a chance to visit Marinette all weekend though, mainly due to Adrien being worked to the bone at a last minute photoshoot. Come Monday morning, he was knackered.

"You alright dude?" Nino asked as he flopped into a chair.

Adrien mumbled a reply but as his face was mushed into the desk, Nino couldn't quite make it out.

"Hey Marinette," Nino greeted their friend. "You're here early."

"Yeah, I had an idea for you," she said. "I had to tell you before Alya turns up."

"What? Oh, right, go on," Nino replied with a grin.

Marinette slid into her seat and leaned forward conspiratorially.

"You should offer to go Ladybug hunting with Alya," she whispered.

Nino's face fell.

"Adrien suggested that already," he said. Marinette frowned around at Adrien.

"Sorry," he murmured from the desk.

He could feel Marinette's eyes on his back and regretted telling Nino her idea.

Adrien's day did not improve. He managed to screw up in every lesson, even Physics. The last lesson of the day was P.E. They were doing badminton in doubles, but as there were only six courts, several pairs were sitting out.

"Dude, you're staring."

"Huh?" Adrien looked round at Nino, who was playing with his racket.

"You're staring."

"Am I?"

"Yeah, at Marinette's butt," Nino said.

"It wasn't intentional," Adrien said quickly.

"Sure it wasn't," Nino said with a laugh. "But I think she has noticed."

Adrien looked up and sure enough, both Alya and Marinette were giving him occasional dirty looks. He groaned and let his head sink between his knees. The end of the day could not come soon enough.

* * *

When Chat appeared on Marinette's balcony, he looked down through her trapdoor and saw her striding back and forth and ranting to her apparently empty room.

He knocked.

She looked around and glared at him, but let him in anyway.

"Are you alright?"

"You have some questions to answer you…" She apparently could not think of a word suitably bad enough to describe Chat.

"What did I do?"

"Sit," she growled. Chat sat. "What _exactly_ did you tell Adrien?"

"What do you mean?"

"About my idea for Nino and Alya?"

"The searching for Ladybug thing? Just that you had had an idea that they should go together," Chat replied, wide eyed and wondering what on earth he'd done wrong.

"So he knew it was my idea?" Marinette clarified. She stood over Chat and glared down at him. Chat was slightly terrified, and just the tiniest bit turned on.

"Yes," he whispered.

"That arse," she spat. "First he steals my idea and then he spent the entirety of P.E staring at my bum!"

"Well you do have a nice bum," Chat whispered, fortunately Marinette did not hear him.

"I thought he was such a nice young man and now this! Like, I was so happy with that idea. It was bringing both of their hobbies together! And who just stares at someone's bum? Like that's just creepy!"

Chat stood up and pulled Marinette into a hug. She huffed, but let him embrace her.

"I'm being really petty aren't I?" she asked quietly.

"I doubt Adrien was intentionally stealing your idea," Chat said.

"But that doesn't excuse him being a creep right?"

"No…"

Chat mentally filed away a note to apologise to Marinette for his behaviour as Adrien.

* * *

The following morning, Adrien pulled Marinette aside during morning break.

"Hey, I just wanted to apologise for yesterday," he said quickly. But he noticed that unlike when he usually spoke to her, today there was no tomato face. She wasn't quite normal coloured, perhaps a peach instead of a tomato. "I shouldn't have stolen your idea and as for P.E, I was so tired. It honestly wasn't intentional, I didn't even realise I was doing it," he went on.

"It's okay," Marinette said, still peach-faced.

"Chat told me how upset you were, I really want to make it up to you somehow," Adrien went on. "How about we go for a drink sometime? My treat?" he offered.

Marinette stared at him for a moment.

"What? Like a d- date?" she stuttered.

"Sure," he said, and smiled.

She stared at him for another moment.

"Um, I'm kind of really busy at the moment. Maybe some other time…" she trailed off and looked away. Adrien was taken aback. She had turned him down.

"Yeah, okay. No worries," he said.

"I should catch up with Alya," she said. He nodded and she turned on her heel and walked away. Adrien watched her go, wondering why his chest felt so heavy.

* * *

"You turned Adrien down?" Chat greeted her with the question.

"Not exactly!" she insisted. "I just said I was busy…" She was pacing around her room twisting her hands together.

"You turned him down. Why?"

"You saw him? Was he upset? I didn't want to upset him…"

Chat didn't know what to say to that. Was Adrien upset by Marinette turning him down? Was he upset?

"Why did you turn him down?" he asked again.

"I didn't turn him down! I just delayed it…"

"But why?"

Marinette turned around and looked straight at Chat. She opened her mouth. Then closed it again. Then opened it and whispered something so quietly that Chat only just caught it.

"I'm not sure I like him like that anymore…"

"What?"

"I'm not sure I like him like that anymore," she said, slightly louder this time.

She looked almost scared of the words coming out of her mouth.

"Oh," Chat managed. He tried to process the information. Was this rejection? Again?

"Chat, can you close your eyes?"

"Why?"

"I can't do it if your eyes are open," she whispered.

Chat closed his eyes. He was suddenly very aware of his surroundings. How loud his breathing was, the exact temperature in the room, and the sense that Marinette was moving closer to him.

And then he felt her lips on his.

And then he heard her swear.

Chat opened his eyes. Marinette had her hands clamped over her mouth as if that would somehow take the word that had fallen from her mouth back.

"I'm sorry Chat," she said. "I shouldn't have. I… I'm sorry."

Chat shook his head, unable to speak.

"This can't be happening," Marinette went on and Chat had the impression she was talking to herself more than him. "Adrien was a safe choice. I knew who Adrien is." She began pacing. "There are no secrets with Adrien. Well almost. But that would have been fine. He's a busy person. It would have been okay. But you!" She turned to stare at Chat. "I can't love you. I don't even know who you are! You could be anyone…"

"You do know me though," Chat whispered. His words more of a plea than anything else. Marinette blinked.

"I know you're kind," she whispered. "I know you jump in the line of fire and would do anything for a friend. But I don't know anything else. I don't know your name or your favourite colour or food or subject or what your hobbies are or anything…"

"Do they matter?" Chat asked.

Marinette looked at him desperately, searching for answers.

"I don't know," she whimpered. "You have to go. Just go."

Chat was slightly taken aback by the turn of events, but he made to leave.

"Can I-" he began, but Marinette cut him off.

"Don't come back."

Chat could almost feel tears welling in his eyes. But began his way up out of the trapdoor. He looked back.

"Goodbye, Princess."

As he vaulted from the balcony, he heard a sob.

* * *

Adrien paced around his room. He wanted to cry. He wanted to punch something.

"You know, when I said distract yourself from Ladybug, I didn't mean fall in love with someone else," Plagg said, unhelpfully.

Adrien scowled, ducked under his bed and withdrew some cheese. He shoved it into Plagg's face.

"There, you have your beloved cheese," he growled. "At least one of us can be happy."

Plagg removed the cheese from his face.

"She's just scared," he said.

"She rejected me as Adrien this morning. She rejected me as Chat tonight. I really don't think she likes me," Adrien muttered. He pulled his shirt off and screwed it up into a tight ball. He tried to force it into a smaller and smaller ball.

"She's scared," Plagg repeated. "She fancies Adrien, has realised Adrien is human and makes mistakes. And Chat came in, a knight in shining armour as you yourself once put it. So she's falling for Chat too. She's torn between two guys and probably worried that loving Chat will be dangerous both for her and you and her family."

"Great," Adrien muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "And what do you suggest, oh wise one?"

"You tell her the truth."

Adrien dropped his shirt in shock.

"What?"

"Tell her the truth."

"You want me to tell her I'm Chat? Are you insane?" Adrien frowned at his kwami, who shrugged.

"Tikki would murder me on the spot for suggesting it, but yes."

"Who?"

"Ladybug's kwami," Plagg explained.

Adrien flopped onto his bed.

Plagg was right. Marinette liked Adrien and Chat. The two halves of the whole that made him up. And he, though he hadn't admitted it to himself, had fallen for Marinette. He had been so caught up trying to help her and Alya and Nino that he hadn't realised it had happened.

"I should tell her, I can trust her, can't I?"

Plagg didn't answer, as he was eating the cheese Adrien had previously shoved into his face.

* * *

But Marinette was not at school the next day. Which made it hard for Adrien to confess to her, then again, perhaps school was not the best place for such a revelation.

"Her mum said she was ill," Alya told him when he enquired.

"I hope she gets better soon," Adrien said earnestly. He saw Alya shoot a meaningful look at Nino, but he didn't question it.

That evening, Adrien waited until dark to transform. It wasn't because he was nervous. He wasn't. Not one bit. He hadn't been able to concentrate on anything all evening. But that wasn't due to nerves. Nope. Not at all.

He landed on the rooftop balcony and looked down at where Marinette was curled up in her bed, with a sketchbook. His arrival caught her eye and she glared up at him. He noticed red patches around her eyes and for a wild moment thought she'd been akumatised. Then he realised the redness was due to crying.

She looked away, as if by not looking at him, he wouldn't be there. Gently, he tapped on the window. Marinette made him wait a whole minute before letting him in.

"You better have a damn good reason to be here," she growled.

"You said you didn't know if it mattered whether you knew certain things about me," Chat said quickly. "I thought if I told you, then you could decide easier." Marinette did not say anything, but stared at him. He chose to go on. "My favourite hobby is fencing, but I also play piano and take Chinese lessons. My favourite subject is physics. My favourite food is anything without Camembert in it. My favourite colour is blue, the same colour as your eyes. And my name…" He realised his transformation. "... is Adrien Agreste."

Marinette's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

"I… I… What? How?" Words fell from her mouth like water through a broken dam. "But you.. But Chat… You…"

Plagg chose this moment to butt in.

"I heard what you said about Camembert and if you want me to take you home, I expect a full written apology."

Adrien expected Marinette to ask about Plagg, but she didn't. Adrien glared at Plagg to make him shut up.

"I'm gonna have to…" Marinette muttered. "Tikki… Transform me."

And it was Adrien's turn for his mouth to fall open in shock.

Where only a moment before, Marinette had been standing agape, Ladybug stood with her arms crossed.

"You're kidding me right?" Adrien mumbled.

"No," Ladybug said.

"You're actually kidding me," Adrien repeated. "No. You can't be Marinette. You can't be Ladybug. You can't be. This whole thing started because of you. Because of Ladybug."

He was babbling and he knew it.

"What?" Ladybug asked, concerned. She released the transformation and Marinette stood before him again.

"The whole point of everything was to get over Ladybug. Because I didn't want the rejection any more. I did what Plagg said. I focused on helping everyone else and it worked. I got over you and fell for Marinette and then…" He was almost seething with anger. "I fell for you. I got over you and fell for you all over again. I'm doomed."

And he sunk to the floor. It took Marinette a moment to realise he was actually laughing.

"Adrien? Chat? Are you okay?"

Adrien looked up at Marinette. His face was pleading.

"Will you have me, Princess?" he asked. "Now you know, will you have me, my Lady?"

It seemed to take an age, but she smiled.

"Of course I will, you silly kitty."

Adrien smiled and Marinette drew him into a hug. Then giggling, he pressed his lips to her cheek. A cough caused the teenagers to look around, having forgotten about their kwami.

"I still want my written apology," Plagg chimed in. Adrien rolled his eyes and looked back at Marinette, who giggled.

"Way to ruin the moment," Tikki scolded.

But the two superheroes weren't listening as the two kwami bickered; they had eyes only for each other.

The End.

* * *

 **Author's note: So I haven't proof-read this as much as I should have but oh well, I hope you enjoyed it anyway as it has literally kept me up at night! AmyNChan will attest to me staying up to read/write it...**

 **This entire thing was written purely for the bit where Adrien was like "I fell for you all over again"...**

 **Please review :)**


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